Federal PAS committee member Zaharuddin Muhammad, who is also the son-in-law of PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang, said the concept of the fund was akin to a “robbery where a robber uses stolen money to buy things, before selling the things back to us.”

“He uses Shariah-compliant methods when he buys the items. But when he forces us to pay for the items, when the money is given to others, it is done without our permission, which makes it non Shariah-complaint,” he wrote in a Facebook posting today.

He made these comments in response to an announcement by the EPF recently that it would introduce the “Simpanan Shariah” savings option that enabled members to convert their current conventional EPF savings to one managed and invested in accordance with Shariah principles.

Zaharuddin, in welcoming the move by EPF, said all Muslims should convert to the new scheme.

He however, maintained that the EPF system itself went against Islamic principles because it was more like a form of “forced taxation.”

Zaharuddin also promised to reveal in time “how EPF can wreck the economy of low-income earners and leave them heavily in debt.”